Over a billion blood draws are done in the US yearly. Devices to make this routine procedure safer are being looked at:
Behind the efforts is a growing recognition that one of the most common medical procedures, long viewed by hospital staffers as routine and easy-to-tolerate, can be terrifying and painful for many — and that serious injury, while relatively rare, can lead to disabling injuries and costly malpractice suits for hospitals. Patients surveyed by health-care satisfaction measurement firm Press-Ganey Associates Inc. rated their lab experience, which includes blood-draw, among the least satisfactory in the hospital. And a recent survey by market research firm TVG Inc., conducted with the support of Vyteris, concluded that more than 14 million adults and five million children over the age of five suffer from high discomfort during procedures or exhibit fear of needles, known as blenophobia.
Blenophobia = the fear of needles. I learned something new today.
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{ 16 comments }
Give me a break.
I know a woman who’s radial nerve was injured by a botched blood draw. It is something none of us imagined could have happened, but it kept her out of work for weeks.
I’m a tough stick. When someone comes at me with a needle I have a standard speech. I point to where my two best veins are and explain that there’s no point in trying anywhere else. I explain that I don’t allow digging. I encourage the person to take their time and not to stick until they’re sure. I tell them they get two sticks and that is all. I promise not to move, not to jerk away, not to scream.
This serves two purposes. #1 It scares off the folks who are aren’t REALLY good at getting blood. #2 It avoids any misunderstanding. If you dig, even a little bit, I will personally take the needle out of your hand and ask you to get someone else. It lets the person know that for me, getting blood out of my vein is a cooperative activity and that I’ll do my part if they do theirs.
It’s my arm. I have strict rules about how it will get stuck.
Oh puh-leeeze. I believe one can expect any human over the age of five to grit his teeth for a few seconds. I know this is hard for many — after all, with gritted teeth they will find it difficult to whine — but they’ll get over it.
Cheers,
Felix.
I once had an adult who burst into tears at the sight of a butterfly needle (that had not yet touched her arm). She also had a large tattoo on her arm. I couldn’t figure that one out.
I’m good at drawing blood, but I’m not 100% perfect. Obese and renal patients are sometimes hard sticks. Also, it really doesn’t help when a patient gives a long lecture prior to the blood draw or you have 15 family members hovering around you. It’s a blood draw for crying out loud. If you’re an adult whining over a blood draw, then you really really need to get some counseling.
Wow Felix and Anon 10:03. Ya’ll are exactly the kinds of folks I won’t let stick a needle in me. If having a patient end up in tears from having someone dig around in their arm with a needle for two minutes trying to find a vein the sticker should have been able to access with one simple stick leaves you thinking the patient has a problem, you are EXACTLY the kind of people who I don’t want treating me. I want people who think leaving their patients gasping with tears and with blood dripping down on the floor (not hyperbole – it has happen to me) is not a good thing and shouldn’t be brushed off. A blood draw should be a simple thing that causes only mild discomfort. I’ve had really good stickers who can do it without me even feeling it happen! But a professional who disregards a patient’s pain just because the sticker thinks the patient is a whiner, well I think YOU are the one with the problem. I really feel for your patients.
Well, I hate to break it to you but even people who are really good at drawing blood miss from time to time. You are probably increasing the odds that the person is going to miss when you give them a lecture before they begin. I have only had one adult cry when I drew blood and it was the patient with the tattoo who I approached with a butterfly needle. I think most of us, doctors and nurses included, have experienced having someone dig around for a vein. While I can’t say it’s the most pleasant experience in the world it’s certainly nothing to cry over.
Compassion and a little patience goes a long ways. My guess is that most of the “stickers” have not had significant numbers of sticks themselves. Having been a cancer patient, I can attest to the difference in methods and attitudes of the “stickers”.
It is just another un-necessary pain in an already crowded landscape.
Waaa, Waaaa! Y’all never get cancer! It’s a hundred million needles and then you stop counting. And inevitably you will get the idiot who couldn’t draw from a fire hose. But it is only a stick and I hear that it is very rare that anyone dies from it.
Carol is exactly the type of person that makes a phlebotomists life that much tougher.
Phlebotomists are now trained and certified to so the job, at least where I come from. Pleezzze be quiet and let them do their job.
There are people that can get blood very easily, and should be little pain involved. I have been a Lab Tech for over 20 years now, and I still miss people on occassion, but I have alot of sympathy for them, and I am really sorry when I can not find their veins. Anyone trying to collect blood should be able to sympathize with their patients. Where I went to school we had to train on one another, before we stuck real patients. So, I know what it’s like to be stuck alot. From my school experience I do not let any one draw blood from my left arm, because when we were in training, someone hurt that arm, so bad that it was painful for almost a month. So, if someone is trying to draw your blood and they tell you to stop whining, request to speak to their supervisor, or go some place else, because they are evidently not a professional. Do not put up with that kind of treatment from anyone.
Overcoming needle phobia is not as simple as turning ones head away and putting ones thoughts elsewhere. I never knew of the existence of needle phobia until I met my husband, who is 6′5″ and a professional athlete. His experience is really physiological wherein in its not the pain but the process and he gets dizzy and hot before the process even begins, he has even passed out. It’s not at all rational behavior it only a little needle. I have to admit it is hard for me to understand but I can’t deny the way he feels and the turmoil he goes through before taking a blood test.
I am astonished at the number of people who seem to think that people ith blood and needle phobia should just stop whining and get over the “little needle stick”.
Obviously, they do not understand phobia’s.
People afraid of needles and blood can faint and have seizures which in turn can be life threatening in this situation. Telling someone to “buck up” is the worst thing to do for a phobic patient. They can’t.
If patients aren’t losing consciousness, they can become combative as well…which is not safe for them or the tech.
People, get real…compassion and understanding for the patient come first!
One more thing!
I have had needle phobia all of my life but I have done many different therapies to combat it.
The best advise to someone who has to deal with a needle but is afraid and might faint…is to tighten all the muscles in one of your legs and release it and then tighten it again during the procedure. Do this while you are lying down. If you have a sensitive vaso-vagil nerve, then this exercise will help you not faint. And you MUST tell your tech ahead of time about your fainting…even if they aren’t compassionate or understanding they do not want you to move during the procedure so they will assist in helping you lay down.
The last time I had a blood draw I was sitting in a chair watching the proceedure, trying to be rational as I was not able to control a general sense of horror encroaching. The nurse said, ‘you don’t look too well, come over & lay down’. Next thing I recall was looking up at frustrated faces as I lay on the floor. It’s not a rational response but the body/mind seems to ‘exit stage left’ anyway. I need to get another blood test but will probably be dead before any blood is drawn. I just can’t do it. End of story.
Fuck anyone that thinks its a stupid phobia. I don’t have a problem with vaccine shots but I have a major problem with getting blood drawn. I had Too many traumatic visits to ER when I was a kid for accidents, and parents that told me to suck it up. You have 4 doctors hold you down to give you stitches right next to your eyeball and see how you react to medical procedures the rest of your life.
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